Once Upon a Mattress
by TheCatholicFanGirl
Summary: Duke is sick of the mattress that the three of them share, and he's sick of Nathan not saying the L word. Luckily the three of them have the day off Saturday.


The conversation started out on the night Nathan had offered to clean up after dinner. Audrey and Duke were in the Gull having a few drinks. Well, Duke had had a few drinks; Audrey was slowly sipping her first. "We need a new bed…." Duke slurred.

Audrey smiled "Oh?"

"Yeah, last night … I fell off the, the, the, the bed." He pointed to her.

"I think you've had too much to drink."

"I didn't drink," He hiccupped "Nothing, last night."

Audrey couldn't help but grin wider as she grabbed a napkin and wiped Duke's mouth off. "What's gotten you so drunk tonight? It's not the bed."

He scoffed. "What… What, what… makes you think that I'm drunk because of the bed?" Duke asked pushing away her hand.

She raised an eyebrow and waited.

"Fine, have you noticed Nathan never has told me that he loves me?" Duke asked. "I make sure I tell you guys every time you leave, because I don't know when…" his eyes got teary. "Now I'm crying." He stated.

Audrey reached for his hand. "Don't worry about that Duke, you know Nathan, he has to double and triple check his feelings before he does anything." She squeezed Duke's hand. "Bed time for you." She said.

"No," he said like a child and pouted. "Not until we get a bigger bed. I fell out last night." He said.

"Uh huh," she nodded. "Sure you did," she looped an arm around his waist.

Once she got Duke into bed, not bothering to put him in pjs, he just took off his pants and crawled into bed, Audrey went to the kitchen to help Nathan finish cleaning.

To her surprise, he wasn't cleaning he was humming along to the radio, and attempting to shuffle his feet to the song. He was failing, but Audrey smiled and stepped in grabbing his shoulder and locking her fingers with his. "Hello," She smiled.

He smiled down at her "Hello," he murmured and kissed her.

They hovered for a moment tasting each other when Audrey pulled away and rested on Nathan's shoulder. "Duke hit the bottle pretty hard tonight." Audrey sighed.

Nathan moved his hands to her hips and wrestled a frown on his lips that were formally in a goofy grin. "Oh?"

"Something about us needing a bigger bed, he's probably right." She said. "And how you are not saying the 'l' word to him…"

Nathan scoffed. "Lesbians?"

Audrey hit his chest softly. "Love,"

Nathan frowned. "Oh," he said. "We're off Saturday, all three of us, we can do it then." Nathan shrugged.

"You need to schedule the days you say your love?" Audrey said. "When's my day?" she teased him.

"No the bed shopping, Duke's right, and I tell you I love you every day." Nathan said.

Audrey looked in his eyes and saw what he meant; he didn't say the phrase exactly, but by doing small romantic things that were out of his comfort zone to her showed her that he loved her. "Yeah, but Duke's more of a word guy when it comes to you two." Audrey said and stood on toe to kiss his nose. "Saturday, all three of us?"

Nathan nodded, "Yeah a few weeks ago I set us up to make sure we had the day off, and I convinced Duke to do the same."

Audrey frowned. "Why?"

Nathan shrugged "To buy a bed." He smiled.

Audrey knew that wasn't the case but Nathan wasn't telling the real reason. She nodded slowly. "Okay," she said in shock. The two changed in to their night clothes and then crawled into bed with a snoring Duke.

Saturday morning Audrey woke to Duke's arm on her waist pulling her back in closer, and Nathan's arm just above Duke's pulling her front closer. She smiled and kissed Nathan's nose so he blinked awake, and kissed Duke's shoulder so he groaned awake. Duke as the first to speak "Good morning my WHOA!" he said and fell off the bed. "Ow." He moaned.

Nathan laughed and Audrey scrambled to the side of the bed. She saw Duke on the floor unharmed and giggled. "Duke…" she cleared her throat trying not to laugh. "You okay?" she laughed.

"Yeah, thank you for your concern." He said getting up. "Can we please get a new bed?" he asked.

"That's where we're going today." Nathan said landing on his feet with ease. "The mall about twenty miles from here, I'm sure you remember it."

"Course that's where me and Janie Stringer and I…" Duke looked at Audrey who had her eyebrows raised.

"In the back of a pickup truck," Nathan rolled his eyes. "And lucky me, it was bring your son in to work day with my dad, their licenses said that they were from Haven."

Audrey covered a giggle.

"I saw more of Duke than I ever wanted to see." Nathan said and then looked at Duke, trying to convey humor in his eyes.

"Thanks Nathan," Duke sighed then looked at Audrey "Told you." He said and got dressed.

In the mall Macy's was having a sale. "What size is the bed now?" Duke asked.

"It's a full size," Audrey said holding Nathan's hand. The three of them were out of town and they were able to express themselves a little more without the worry of gossip and behind the back talking.

"I'm thinking a king." Duke pitched. "It's big enough."

"We're also thinking in cost here," Nathan pointed out. "Here's one, two hundred." He said.

Duke pressed his fingers on the mattress. "It is way too hard," he shook his head.

"You didn't even lay on it." Nathan scoffed.

Lying on the mattress, Duke sighed "Yeah too hard, baby girl, come lay down." He called Audrey.

Audrey followed suit "Yeah, way too hard." She said and got up.

Duke practically dived into the next bed but Nathan pointed out the price. His hands were in his pockets. Duke moped for a moment then Audrey spotted a bed. "Hey," she said and moved to the center of the bed kicking off her shoes and lying down. "I like this one." She remarked.

Duke slid in next to her. "Wow, I like this one too."

Nathan pulled the tag out and read it. "Price," he muttered a smile tugging at his lips.

"Only two-hundred dollars?" Duke asked "I like this bed even more."

"C'mon Nathan it's not our bed until we get you in it." Audrey teased and grabbed his wrist.

Nathan reluctantly slipped into the bed and lay on his side as if he were going to sleep. "How does it feel?" He asked the two of them.

"It's really comfortable." Audrey promised him and poised herself as if she were going to sleep, her hand reaching out to knit with Nathans. Duke cuddled up to Audrey.

"It's big." Nathan remarked.

"It's a good size." Duke nodded. "I think it'll fit all of us." He feigned stretching and then tensed up as if he knew he was going to hit the floor. "See, perfect size." Duke said comfortably and smiled at the two of them.

"Good price," Nathan nodded. "You two seem comfortable enough." He shrugged. "Let's get an employee."

\/\/\/\/\/\/

They bought the bed and were able to get it in Duke's car and they drove over to Target to get new sheets, pillows, and comforters. "Grey." Duke said holding up a soft material.

"No," Nathan said.

"Blue." Audrey nodded.

"Blue?" Duke asked. "Why…" he looked at the two of them, four blue orbs were glaring at him. "Right because of your beautiful eyes." He smiled.

;:;:;:;:

They finally got home and the boys were working on lugging up the mattress. "Duke you're not holding enough on your end." Nathan grunted pushing the bed up the stairs.

"I'm not only one." Duke grunted and pulled.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Nathan asked.

"Nathan, you've been great to Audrey and all, and that one day where we had to take care of each other was great, but you haven't done anything since." Duke said and pulled it up the last step.

Nathan pushed a couple more steps. "What…" Grunt "Do you mean?" he asked.

"I'm trying my hardest not to be all weird about this." Duke said helping Nathan by pulling the mattress. "But, I thought that this relationship was a three way street. She helps us, we help her, we help each other, but…"

"Duke" Nathan said finally reaching the last step. He was sweating; he set a sweaty palm on Duke's arm. "I love you."

Duke nodded. "I love you too." He smiled, and they wrestled the bed inside the apartment. They saw Audrey hadn't even undressed the other bed. She was standing at the foot of the bed frowning and her arms crossed.

Nathan came over first and kissed her head. "What's a matter?" he asked.

She shook her head. "I'm just being sentimental." She sighed. "I just can't get over that this is our bed. We've lived with this bed for how long?" Audrey asked looking at Duke.

Duke shrugged.

"We've been together since the incident, six months to the day." Nathan said.

Duke shook his head. "I don't believe it," he said grasping Audrey's hand.

"Six months." She whispered and turned to Nathan. "That's why you got us to have today off."

He smiled and rubbed his mouth embarrassed. "Kind of." He admitted.

"And you didn't tell us? Or remind us?" Duke stuttered.

Nathan shrugged, "It would've put pressure on you two to make a big deal about tonight, and I didn't want that." He crossed his arms his face ghosted a smile. "Besides, spending the day together was perfect."

Audrey and Duke smiled. "Yeah, I guess it was." Audrey nodded and then proceeded to strip the bed.


End file.
